As Simon Pegg dips his quill into the ink well for Star Trek 3‘s script, there are some other rumors floating around the Internet that possibly hint at what Pegg might be writing about: Bryan Cranston rumored to be the movie’s villain and the addition of three strong female characters to the Star Trek 3 mix. What characters might these new additions play and what could this mean for the franchise?

Well, first up is the Internet chatter that Bryan Cranston has already talked with Paramount about taking a role in Star Trek 3. Film Divider says:

The major new role for a male actor will be the villain. As we understand it, he’s supposed to be Bryan Cranston-like, to the point that Cranston himself has had words with the studio about taking the role. We don’t know just yet if he said yes, or if this is an all-new character or somebody from continuity, but because they’re shooting for Cranston we at least know the filmmakers want to bring the intensity.

Who might Bryan Cranston play? The best bet is someone new and not from the original series. Paramount has done that before with Khan and should be ready to move on.

Now there could be a couple of the Original Series villains that would be fun to see Cranston take on. The one that sticks out to me is The Squire of Gothos. A “Q” like entity with incredible powers with absolutely no self-control.

I could see Cranston taking this role with glee. There is a lot there for him to work with. The character runs the gambit from playing the sophisticate, to the megalomaniac, to the sadistic, and finally to the childish. I’d love to see Cranston work through all that.

There’s one other possibility that I’d like to float out there, Harry Mudd.

Imagine Cranston as the conniving, scheming, rascal of space, Harry Mudd. He always gets in over his head and this time it could threaten the crew of the Enterprise as well as the galaxy or some far-flung alien race. Cranston could certainly play a much darker Harry Mudd. He’d be the one who Transports!

As if Bryan Cranston’s possible addition to the cast wasn’t enough, there are also some rumors of beefing up Star Trek 3’s female roles. Word is that Paramount is going to move past the Alice Eve in panties for no reason other than to show some skin.

Possible new strong female character:

President of the United Federation of Planets

Star Fleet Captain

Bones Ex-wife

Let’s look at each in turn. Casting a female character as the political leader of the United Federation of Planets and the titular head of Star Fleet would be a nice touch, but only if we actually see her do something or make some tough decisions. Just placing her at the podium to give Kirk and crew some galactic award would be a let down, unless she then turns around and reads Kirk the riot act for letting that situation get out of hand in the first place.

Casting a female Starship Captain set in the rebooted original series would be another smart move by Paramount. Setting her up as a rival for Kirk’s fame and position in Star Fleet would be incredible. Not in the “She’s gonna take Kirk down way” but in the one-up-manship or better still one-up-womanship of Kirk’s accomplishments. The first on-screen female Star Fleet Captain was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home played by Madge Sinclair.

She was never named in the movie, but later in the Pocket Books adaptation she was refereed to as Captain Alexander. I’d have to imagine Paramount wanting a younger, sexier female captain to put up against Chris Pine. Paramount will want some on-screen electricity between the two. Who do you think would make a good counter to Pine’s Kirk? Although she’d be a long shot, Jennifer Lawrence would be great. Make her a Star Fleet Captain and turn her loose on the galaxy and Kirk. That would fill theater seats.

Last but not least would be to bring in McCoy’s ex-wife. It’s been done before with Kirk’s old flames, so why not share it with Karl Urban‘s Bones? His divorce was one of the major reasons McCoy took to space. I’d love to see why and perhaps let McCoy work through all those negative feelings. I imagine Spock will have the time of his life quipping at Bones when those two meet.

What do you think? These are all possibilities at the moment, Cranston haws talked with Paramount but nothing has been announced.

The main problem I see is the same one Star Trek movies always face, if you beef up the role of one character that takes away from the other character’s on-screen time and development. Unless you make a four-hour Star Trek movie, this is gonna happen and some fans of a character are going to hit angry warp speed on the Internet.

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